Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Logan Lerman returns as the titular hero, the demigod son of Poseidon in “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” who embarks on his own, modern-day Odyssey. The beginning of the second adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best selling “Percy Jackson” book series finds our hero doubting himself and not living up to his potential. Feeling abandoned by his father and finding out that he has a half-brother who is a Cyclops, Percy soon deals with an enormous task ahead along with his teen demigod friends Annabeth and Grover along with his newfound brother Tyson to save their world from extinction.

Alexandra Daddario returns as Annabeth Chase, the demigod offspring of Athena, goddess of wisdom, the role she created in “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” One of Percy Jackson’s best friends, she took a while to warm to Percy when they first met, coming around only after he showed his mettle in a game of Capture the Flag. She joined Percy on his quest to find the Lightning Thief and once again to recover the Golden Fleece.

“One of the most enjoyable aspects of the first film was accessing a bad-ass quality that you don’t really get to access in your real life. It’s been a great experience being able to do that,” says the actress. But in “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters,” Daddario notes, “We see more of Annabeth’s sensitive side. In the first she was very tough; in this one we see a lot more of her vulnerability.”

The newest demigod at Camp Half-Blood is Clarisse LaRue, daughter of Ares, the god of war. Clarisse is the cream of Camp Half-Blood’s crop, a solid warrior and something of a bully. She lives to best Percy at the camp’s many challenges. Leven Rambin (known for her role as Glimmer in “The Hunger Games”) plays Clarisse, whom she says is, “innately prone to fighting, competition and being the best. She always wants to prove herself to her father, who wanted a son, so she’s trying to live up to that.”

“Clarisse contributes to Percy’s feelings of inadequacy and makes him question his abilities and whether he belongs in Camp Half-Blood,” says Freudenthal. “Clarisse is insecure, and that’s why she has such an attitude. It’s her insecurity that someone’s going to best her or embarrass her that drives her to feel the need to bully people.”

Director Freudenthal says he wanted to depict the overlap of the real and mythological worlds. “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” shows new aspects of Camp Half-Blood; we wanted to paint a full picture of the beautiful sanctuary for the Half-Bloods and create magic.”

“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” opens this August 7 in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.